That’s Hot

What I do know is the $7 of jalapenos and $6 of Ontario banana peppers combined with Ontario organic vinegar, some water and a few spices make a pile of hot peppers. There are 19 cups of banana peppers and 13 cups of Jalapenos. The total cost of ingredients come in around $1.50 per cup for local, preservative-free pickled hot peppers.

We’ve experimented with cider vinegar in these peppers (typical treatment is white vinegar). Hoping that there will be a touch of sweet under the heat of the peppers.

I wore gloves for the entire cutting process (I used a knife instead of a mandolin). My heavy duty gloves saved my hands – in part. 2 hours of slicing peppers eventually creeped into my gloves and onto my hands. I could still feel the tingle this morning and through noon – I can’t imagine the pain I’d be in if I had skipped the gloves altogether.

These two batches have me as excited as I’ve been in a long, long time for a batch of preserves. I adore hot things and thinking that we can add these local peppers to lunches, salads and meals for a long time to come is a real thrill. I was excited to find red banana peppers – they tend to be a rare find most times of year (I have a guess why this is the case but need to do some research before ranting a little :)) The sight of red peppers instantly inspired me to jump to the call of duty and through this 2-time shot of heat together in a single night.

They have a slightly alkaline taste to them. I would likely do them in white vinegar next time – though I like that I can buy much more artisinal cider vinegar than white. Pure taste – white vinegar wins. Ideologically (which is tough to taste), cider vinegar wins to me. They were good, I just want to like them more than I do.

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Joel’s TEDxToronto Speech

Joel had the pleasure of speaking at TEDxToronto in 2013. He spoke about his passion for preserving, shared his resistance to our current food system and shares the top 5 reasons why people don't preserve - and how they're a myth!